Air Force Academy
All-Academy Championships
Falcons Finish Fifth At All-Academy Championships
2/3/2007 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Feb. 3, 2007
With two wrestlers placing in the top three, the Air Force wrestling team took fifth place at the All-Academy Championships Saturday at the Cadet East Gym. Navy, ranked 22nd nationally, brought home its fourth-straight All-Academy title, finishing with 124.5 points, while Army (96.5), VMI (72), The Citadel (41), Air Force (33.5), Merchant Marines (22.5), Norwich (19.5) and Coast Guard (7.5) rounded out the standings.
Senior Zach Lord (Missoula, Mont.) finished third at 157 pounds after pinning Norwich's Dave Olds in a time of 4:53. Lord opened the afternoon by dropping a 7-2 decision to The Citadel's Travis Piccard, but came back in the consolation semifinals with a 3-0 decision over Dandridge Glitz of the Merchant Marines. Lord then picked up a 15-10 decision over Army's Christian Snook to move into the third-place match.
Junior Tony Dorward (Seattle, Wash.) also finished third, winning a 3-2 decision over VMI's John Burton in the consolation final at 165 pounds. He opened the day as the first Falcon to get past the first round, picking up a 7-0 decision over Norwich's Brennan Ward. However, he fell to Army's Brian Rowan in the semifinals to move into the consolation bracket. There Dorward picked up another victory, getting the fall over The Citadel's Zach Filter in a time of 6:20.
Three other Air Force wrestlers finished fourth in their respective weight classes. Junior Zach Valdez (Parker, Colo.) finished fourth at 125 pounds, dropping a 5-1 decision to the Merchant Marines' Philip Greene in the consolation finals. Valdez opened the afternoon with a 4-0 loss to Army's Fernando Martinez in the quarterfinals, but rebounded in the consolation semifinals by pinning VMI's John Pope in a time of 4:09. He then registered a 3-2 decision over The Citadel's Tyler Sim to earn a spot in the third-place match.
Sophomore Jordan Tribble (Midwest City, Okla.) took fourth place at 197 pounds after dropping a 10-0 major decision to Eric Vincent of the Merchant Marines. Tribble opened the day with a win in the quarterfinals, picking up an 8-2 decision over VMI's Kyle Elgert, but dropped a 6-2 decision to Conner Sanders of Army in the next round. Tribble faced The Citadel's Griffen Greene in the consolation semifinals, getting the 10-0 major decision to earn a spot in the third-place bout.
Junior Anthony Stegeman (Cincinnati, Ohio) also finished fourth, falling to Army's Nathan Thobaben in the consolation final. Stegeman's bout was a rematch of the first round battle, when Stegeman and Thobaben fought to a 7-7 tie at the end of regulation in his first match of the day. However, Thobaben grabbed the 9-7 decision in sudden victory overtime, sending Stegeman into the consolation bracket. There he regrouped, pinning Norwich's Cody Lightfoot in 56 seconds before registering a 4-0 decision over The Citadel's John Buck, to move into the third-place match.
A webcast of the final rounds of the All-Academy Championships will be available on www.LiveSportsVideo.com, beginning at approximately 9:00 p.m. (MT).
The Falcons are back in action next weekend, Feb. 10, when they host WWC opponent South Dakota State. The match is slated to begin at 2:00 p.m. in Clune Arena.
125 Fernando Martinez (USMA) dec. Alex Usztics (USNA), 10-6133 William Simpson (USMA) dec. Tyler Anthony (VMI), 3-0141 Matt Kyler (USMA) dec. Brad Canterbury (USNA), 8-6 (SV)149 Sam Alvarenga (VMI) dec. Joel Ahern (USNA), 7-2157 Jon Jarred (USNA) dec. Tommy Cunningham (VMI), 6-1165 Brian Rowan (USMA) dec. Justin Jacobs (USNA), 3-1 (SV)174 Matt Stolpinski (USNA) dec. Darius Caldwell (CIT), 3-2184 Antonio Miranda (USNA) dec. Richard Starks (USMA), 5-3 (SV)197 Matt Parsons (USNA) fall Conner Sanders (USMA), 4:24HWT Ed Prendergast (USNA) dec. Scott Buhman (VMI), 3-2 (TB)
Players Mentioned
